Belarus human rights activist nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

April 19, 2012, 19:29 UTC+3The Nobel committee accepted Ales Belyatsky which is also supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Share

1 pages in this article

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

WARSAW, April 19 (Itar-Tass) — Poland has nominated convicted Belarusian human rights activist Ales Belyatsky for a Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel committee accepted his candidacy which is also supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Thursday.

Poland has collected 200 signatures, equally split between the PACE and the Polish parliament, in Belyatsky’s support.

A Belarusian court found Belyatsky guilty of concealment of huge amounts of income and sentenced him to 4.5 years in a top security prison after Poland and Lithuania provided information on his bank accounts in response to Belarus’s legal assistance request. The man’s property was confiscated.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has apologized for the mistake of the prosecutors and promised that the situation would never repeat.